Thursday, September 30, 2010

I hope you all enjoyed the tour of Aomori and Hakodate. While my parents and sister are still in Japan, I had one last full day to spend with them. As my birthday was coming up and Mikako's just passed, my parents said to invite a few of my friends for a Champagne brunch at their hotel. It was to be me and Mikako's informal birthday gathering.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

It's our last day in Aomori, and as we still had time before our train was take us back to Tokyo, we stopped at a cute little place called "Stella's Kitchen". It would remind you of "Mrs. Field's Cookies" in the States, but they also serve light lunches here as well.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Japan Railways (JR) offers a tour where you can participate in the festival in which the festival costume is provided. Here we are dressed up to participate in the Nebuta Festival. We passed on wearing the tabi (footwear) which is difficult to get use to if you're not familiar with them.

Friday, September 24, 2010

This is me with my family relaxing at my mother-in-law's house in Aomori. The plans for today are to check out the ASPAM building (which is full of Aomori goods, food & souvenirs) in the noon. In the evening, us kids (me, my sister and my wife) will participate in the Nebuta Festival. Mom and Dad will be taking it easy while us kids are dancing the night away.

Off to ASPAM. I didn't take any pictures inside the building but we sure did nibble on a lot of sample food products. As my mother and sister and wife were taking their time checking out the products, my Dad and I headed up to the second floor where there was a Tsugaru Shamisen performance, a small amusement area, and a tiny Aomori Prefecture museum. Aside from all the Aomori goods you can find inside the building, outside the building in the back is where the Nebuta floats are stored during the day as the festival lasts for nearly a week.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Well, I wasn't familiar with guarana, but the can looked cute with its picture of the polar on it. Someone said they were surprised Hokkaido had such a drink as guarana is native to Brazil. But as it says on the can, "It is sweet and tasty" and it was.

自分はガラナはなんだか分からなかったけど、缶に描いてる北極熊が可愛いからつい買っちゃいました。あと日本人的で“限定”という言葉に弱い。誰か北海道にガラナの飲み物あるのが珍しいと言ってた、ガラナの原産地はブラジルですから。ま、缶に書いてる「It is sweet and tasty」（訳して“甘くて美味しい）で、その通りでした。

Sohya no Shio (Sohya Salt) Fantastic Cola Blue / 宗谷の塩 シオコーラ

Okay, my sister and I couldn't resist not trying this. For one thing, the cola is blue. Also one of the main ingredients is salt! Salt? Yep, that's what it says - salt from a place called Sohya. That would Sohya Salt (not soy sauce, oops, sorry for the American joke!). And this being a product of Hokkaido, the label has a picture of the Ezo Brown Bear, with a warning label that says "Beware of Bear" as well. It wasn't as salty as I thought it might be, in fact it didn't taste too different from a regular cola. It was pretty good.

I suppose my American readers would wonder what lamune is. In its most easiest description, it would be similar to Sprite or 7-Up. But there's that word Sour on the can as well, and below that "chu-hi". Yes, this drink includes alcohol. Chu-hi would be Shochu mixed with lemon, lime, or in this case, lamune. This is probably available elsewhere as well, since I bought it in Aomori after participating in the Nebuta Festival.

As you can see, this is a product of Sapporo Beer. Its just a regular draft beer, but you can only find this in the Tohoku Region as it depicts seven different festivals that are held throughout the summer. For you trivia buffs, the Big 3 are the Nebuta Festival of Aomori, the Kantou Festival of Akita, and the Tanabata Festival of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

My father had no problem dealing with the Seikan Tunnel (the tunnel that connects Hokkaido with Honshu built under the ocean) on our way back to Aomori Prefecture. The plan for today is to relax at my mother-in-law's house until the evening when we will go check out the Nebuta Festival. Actually Mom and Dad will be relaxing at the house while us kids were planning on heading to a ramen shop called "Asari" which is currently ranked the No.1 ramen shop in Aomori Prefecture. Unfortunately, "Asari" was closed so we went to another ramen shop called "Aji no Sapporo" which is known for their Miso Curry Milk Ramen (trust me, it tastes a lot better than it sounds and I have written about in a previous post).

As my wife does not like or drink milk, she ordered the regular miso ramen / 妻が牛乳を飲まない人なので普通の味噌ラーメンを注文しました

The Nebuta Festival starts at 7:00pm and lasts for a couple of hours. The floats are beautiful and huge and take about a year to prepare. As I mentioned previously, the video clips I took with my camera doesn't seem to be compatible with this blog site.

If you look closely at the bottom of the float, you will notice that there are a number of men pulling these floats along which should give you an idea of how large these things are.

ねぶたの下を良く見たら、何人もの大人がねぶたを引張ってるのが分かる。これでねぶたはどの位大きいか分かる。

This is not a Nebuta float! It is my mother. She had slightly injured her knee before coming to Japan and was walking with a limp but seemed to have forgotten the pain while watching the Nebuta floats pass by and was made even happier by receiving the bells which the festival participants wear as they represent good luck.